If hell is full of musical amateurs then I'm screwed.
On the bright side, by 9:30pm I was for rock 'n roll purgatory! Why does life have to get in the way of music?
I warmed up and then did some easy strumming practice. The new pick hold is becoming more natural. I am hopeful that it will seem "normal" in another week or so. I'm glad I decided to tackle this bad habit now.
Since there wasn't much time for guitar tonight, I decided to just play some of my favorite songs rather than do an official practice session. I was in the mood for slower songs tonight, and did a bit of finger picking. I really have fun finger picking - I'll need to eventually learn some more technique - but in the meantime I do my own thing. Which is mediocre and amateurish, I'm sure.
In the midst of picking Living on a Prayer I decided to search for an acoustic version on YouTube. And, wonder of wonders, there were several to choose from. What happened next was a revelation to me:
I played along with the YouTube video.
Duh!! Why did this never occur to me before? It's easy to pull up almost any song on my iPad and then I can rock out while lusting over hunky male lead singers!
Eyeing sexy vocalists makes practice time fun - hooray for practice!
Oops - I meant to say carefully observing the guitarists for proper technique, etc. Oh fuck no, who are we kidding, I like manly eye candy!
Note to self: Make sure husband does not discover my secret blog.
Sooooo, I had a blast! I played along with Living on a Prayer, Bed of Roses and my absolutely favorite song to play, Bringin' on the Heartbreak. I found a great version of Def Leppard performing at the Rock of Ages film premiere. Great movie, by the way.
I was even able to play the little riff that runs through the song up to speed for a bit. I usually practice slower than tempo because I'm prone to picking the wrong string. When I play the riff with my fingers I'm more accurate, but I'm trying to force myself to use the pick.
I realize to a real musician this is probably ultra simple, play in your sleep stuff, but not for me - yet!
I usually prefer seeing a song with just lyrics and chords, but what is cool about tab - for me anyway - is that sometimes it gets me thinking about a different, more efficient fingering of a chord or an easier transition from one to another. Again, this is probably intuitive to most guitarists, but not to Ms. Lack of Musical Ability.
Well, it's late so I'll just post-and-go. But before I do, I'll leave you with Def Leppard's Bringin' on the Heartbreak performance. Love it!
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